What is Eternal life?
Eternal life refers to life after death. There are many concepts of life after death from various religions in the world. Some religion denies it but instead believe in reincarnation, but you and I know that those other religions are not the truth. If they are false then what they say about life after death is also false.
So what does the bible tells us about Eternal life?
At death, the scripture tells us that the body remains in the grave – Sheol (Gen 3:19, Eccl 3:19-21), while the soul and spirit (jointly called the inner man) go back to their maker. The soul does not die at physical death (Matt 10:28, 1 Pet 4:6).
The Resurrection of the dead
In order to understand the concept of eternal life, it is important to understand the concept of the resurrection of the dead first. The resurrection of the dead refers to the raising up of the bodies of all men who die not the soul and the spirit which are immortal – except destroyed by God. Spiritual resurrection happens in this world before one dies (Eph. 2:1-10, Col. 2:11-13).
Eternal Life?
So, since the soul and spirit do not die at death, there is life after death (eternal life for the righteous and eternal damnation for the unrighteous). There are countless of scriptures to support this: Here are a few to explore (Matt. 25:46, Luke 16:22-23, John 5:24-25, 28, John 11:25, John 3:16, Pro. 11:19, Lk.23:43, John 14:2, Rev. 21:8).
Where are we going to spend it?
Eternal life will be spent in heaven. Heaven is a physical place beyond this our physical world.
- It is a city – Heb. 13:14
There are mansions and rooms there – John 14:1-2 - The street is made of gold – Rev. 21:18
- It has gates – Rev. 21:12
- It is only for the righteous – Rev. 21:27
- There is no crying or pain there – Rev. 21:4
- You will be able to recognise your loved one there – LK. 16:22-23
- There is no marriage or giving into marriage there – Matt. 22:30
- Where do we go when we (Christians) die? Paradise or Heaven?
The simple answer is that we go straight to heaven after death. In the past, the righteous go into paradise after death, where they are held captives by the devil against their will (Heb. 2:14-15) until Jesus Christ came and conquered death, hell and grave (LK 16:19-31, 23:43, 1Pet. 3:18-20). Christ emptied the paradise of the righteous and took them to heaven with him (Eph. 4:8-10). Now when a righteous dies, he goes straight to heaven to be with Christ to await the resurrection of the body (2Cor. 5:8, Rev. 6:9-11, Phil. 1:21-24, Heb. 12:22-24).
Where do the wicked go after the physical death?
The simple answer is that they go to hell (Matt. 16:18, LK. 16:19-31) until the day of the resurrection of the body to reunite with their body.
Finally, on the day of final judgement, the wicked will be cast into the lake of fire with Satan and his angel, while the righteous will inherit the new heaven where they will forever be with Christ (Rev. 20:11-15, Rev. 21:1-8).
Behold Christ cometh! May we all reign with him forever in Jesus name.
God bless you.